


Exvodus

by Primarybufferpanel (ArwenLune)



Category: Star Wars - All Media Types, Star Wars: The Clone Wars (2008) - All Media Types
Genre: Gen, Kamino, Podfic Welcome, Shaak Ti and her many many many sons, Star Wars AU - Soft Wars, clone freedom
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-07-02
Updated: 2020-07-02
Packaged: 2021-03-04 17:42:18
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,844
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25040320
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ArwenLune/pseuds/Primarybufferpanel
Summary: The Vode are called home. Leaving Kamino is an... involved process. Shaak Ti watches, helps, and works on that 'no attachments' part of the Jedi code. The Vode.. really don't.
Relationships: Colt (Star Wars)/Shaak Ti
Comments: 29
Kudos: 294
Collections: Open Source Soft Wars





	Exvodus

**Author's Note:**

  * For [Project0506](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Project0506/gifts), [CmonCmon](https://archiveofourown.org/users/CmonCmon/gifts).
  * Inspired by [March Home](https://archiveofourown.org/works/24546811) by [CmonCmon](https://archiveofourown.org/users/CmonCmon/pseuds/CmonCmon). 



> this is kind of an exploration of something mentioned in [Soft Wars](https://archiveofourown.org/series/1683775) and in slightly more detail in [March Home.](https://archiveofourown.org/works/24546811) Which you should read! But to summarise, it's a happy AU in which the clones manage to defect and claim Concord Dawn as their own. 
> 
> Getting all the Vode to Concord Dawn is, to put it very mildly, An Operation. And I couldn't help but think about Shaak Ti, and the end of her guardianship of Kamino.

Shaak Ti had known something was coming. She had known it for a while; she was always careful to grant the men under her command privacy, but the kind of tense hopefulness that had grown among them was hard to block out. Something big, something new, was part of the future.

She knew Colt had been on the verge or telling her for weeks now. She'd felt him take the first breath of speaking so many times, only to swallow the words back again. Anticipated her support for whatever it was, but owed his brothers silence. She was a Jedi first of all.

Something big was about to change for the vode. She wasn't sure exactly what, but she could tell a big change was on the way.

The morning he told her, curled up together in bed, it was already too late to stop it, if she might have wished to do so. Of course she had not.

They were leaving. That evening. All of them were leaving for the planet they claimed as their own. It was a bigger, bolder plan than she could have dared to dream for them.

When Colt had finished speaking, Shaak curled back into his warmth, her lek trailing over his shoulder, and released her feelings to the Force. The sweet ache of losing this, of losing Colt and losing the men of Rancor and all the cadets she cared for, was a very small price to pay indeed for the freedom of so many men, so many children. Never having to send another child into war would be worth it. All of their freedom and safety would be so much more than worth it.

"How can I help?" were the first words out of her mouth, and Colt's body sagged in relief. She didn't think he had truly expected resistance, but she understood that he hadn't _known_. Not completely. Not for sure.

She could forgive him his doubt. She'd been a Jedi for decades. She'd been the vode's only a couple of years.

He urged her to turn over to face him. His expression was a mix of relief and affection, and he pulled her close, urgent hands sliding to her face, to the back of her neck under her lekku, and pulled her into a kiss.

It was an evening kind of kiss, the kind that spoke of desire with a hint of desperation, deep and heady. They didn't normally kiss like that in the mornings, when there was no time for anything more. Shaak didn't care; revelled in it shamelessly. It wasn't going to be a normal day. And it might be the last kiss.

"Be the rearguard?" Colt asked when they finally parted, both a little out of breath.

"Of course." She would put herself and her saber between the vode and the Kaminoans who might try to stop them. Shaak couldn't think of a more fitting ending to her guardianship of Kamino.

When it started, when the alarms went off, the men had cleverly arranged the timing for most of the Kaminoans to be in their own mess halls, where they could be guarded by Dorn and Ornith squads. The rest that they could find was under guard.

The Acclamator class gunship _Adamant_ came out of the sky with a noise thunderous enough to make Shaak's monstrals ache. Perhaps that was what set her senses on edge, expecting something, some play from the Kaminoans.

When the ship had landed and opened her ramp, her reflex was to guard the outer door of the enormous loading bay in case of… in case of something. Instead Resh squad formed up, and Colt gestured for her to walk with him to greet the ship. To let them all know she was on their side, perhaps.

She had never seen brighter grins than on the 41st Elite troopers awaiting them on the loading ramp. The fierce pride radiated off of them and from Colt and she had to focus to keep that flood of emotion at bay, to not have it wash away her composure.

She had not seen Commander Gree in years, but she recognised him nonetheless. Next to him ARC trooper Cryo. Commander Gree pointedly exchanged greetings first with Colt, by her side. His squadmate. His fellow Commander. Only then with her. _You are not in charge._

"Master Ti."

Not General. Never General again. She had not known it would be such a relief.

"Commander Gree. Lieutenant Cryo." She could feel the hesitation; he wasn't quite sure how to find out what her role would be without offending her if she intended to cooperate with them. She smiled softly. "I will make sure all of the vode make it off Kamino safely."

It was a big promise, given that the Kaminoans might yet have cards to play. But one she could make with all her heart.

"Good," he nodded.

The _Adamant_ was to be the tip of the spear, carrying the first vode from Kamino. Once it was confirmed away safely, the _Tranquility_ , a Venator class ship large enough to carry the rest, was already waiting in orbit.

Commander Blitz went on the first ship with six thousand of the older cadets. The anti-air defenses on Kamino had been disabled that afternoon and the control room was under guard, but they didn't know, not for sure, if that was all there was.

"Not risking the little ones until we know," Colt said, and Shaak ached at the thought that they were risking these cadets—and even more so at the thought that it was nothing to the men, nothing compared to what she'd been sending them off to for years. One day she might forgive herself, but that day was a long way in coming.

Knowing that the _Adamant_ did indeed get away safely, pausing in orbit only for Commander Gree to return to the _Tranquility_ before jumping into lightspeed to Concord Dawn, helped only a very little.

From the moment the _Adamant's_ ramp closed, Rancor company went into overdrive, coordinating the exodus with their usual impressive efficiency. The _Tranquility's_ crew was well prepared when the ship landed, troopers with clipboards ready to assign space, an orderly chaos Shaak had no role in.

She wanted to help, but at the same time it felt like this was a moment that should not involve a Jedi giving orders, no matter how softly spoken.

Older cadets had been assigned squads of younger cadets to supervise, and they steadily marched aboard in neat formations, the little ones holding hands to make sure nobody was lost.

Crates upon crates of supplies were loaded, too—"Not like the longnecks will have any use for all this stuff," Havoc grinned as he directed a long row of hover-dollies loaded with clothes and food. Weapons, gear—they were cleaning out the armoury, too. Sensible, she supposed. Settling so many men at once on an empty planet would involve logistics beyond her wildest dreams, but she knew the vode would be equal to the task. They always were, and never so much as when they were executing their own plans.

The Kaminoans were mostly complying. They'd used clone squads as security; touching weapons themselves wasn't really their style. She was wondering what form their resistance would take until the vode came for the tanks in the lab.

The four scientists had been allowed to continue to care for the tanks under close supervision of two Rancor squads. Vode had assisted in the tank care since the beginning; Shaak could only hope that they had learned everything they needed to keep the littlest vode safe and healthy until they could be decanted.

When the _Tranquility_ was ready to load up the tanks, Colt led four squads of fully armed Rancor men to secure them, and Shaak followed quietly, extending her senses, trying to feel if any of the scientists, sat in a row on a bench, had plans to intervene somehow. There was discord among them; some of them resigned, one of them defiant.

Shaak wondered if the Kaminoans had thought to simply continue their clone production after losing a lot of their merchandise. Now that the men were not only going, but taking everything with them that wasn't thoroughly screwed down, it must be dawning on them that there would be no coming back from this.

She stayed near the bench where the scientists were guarded and brushed her mind across theirs. She had always been scrupulous about not invading anybody's mind, but she could not stand the thought that something might go wrong now because she had refused to press.

The discord rankled between two of the scientists especially; one of them angry at what the other had done and deeply concerned about the lives of the baby clones. The other's mind sharp and acrid with anger. And a cruel sort of satisfaction.

Shaak stood in front of him, gathering herself to maintain her calm. Her voice was pitched low and deadly.

" _What_ have you done."

Even sitting he was as tall as she was, and he stared back with an expression of satisfaction. The troopers had gone silent to watch.

"What," she switched on her lightsaber to punctuate her words, loud in the sudden silence, "have you done."

"He disabled the temperature controls," the other scientist shot out, half afraid, half relieved. Worried about the little lives, Shaak thought. "They need a key to adjust."

The lab was warm, but spaceships tended to be kept cool to save fuel. If the tanks couldn't be adjusted…

"And where are those keys?" she asked the saboteur, her lightsaber still ignited. His eyes were fixed on it. He didn't _think_ she would cut him down, but he wasn't entirely sure. Good.

His eyes flicked to a cabinet, and when she opened it there was a small box full of a specific type of key. Gil, one of the troopers who'd done rotations in the labs, confirmed they were the correct ones, and took custody of the box.

As two squads men began to wheel out the tanks, others roamed the lab to take anything they could conceivably need. Concentrate for the tank fluids. Measuring and analysis equipment. Documentation. Nothing could be left behind. They needed everything to sustain and grow and decant those littlest.

The Kaminoan looked mutinous and stood up. She wheeled on him with a sharp "You. Will. _Sit._ " and he practically collapsed back onto the bench.

She didn't switch off her lightsaber until they were well away from that room.

The exodus took almost two days. Squad after squad of cadets loading up and getting assigned space; they would be living in three shifts, sharing bunkrooms. She didn't see much of Colt; Rancor command staff was busy around the clock to scrape Kamino empty of everything that the vode could use - and everything the Kaminoans should not be left with. Crates and crates of supplies and equipment made their way up the ramp. Food stores, meal trays and kitchen inventory. Tents. Crates full of hastily collected bedding. Anything and everything that might come in handy during the journey or on their new world.

Shaak learned where to position herself so that cadets could say goodbye to her without breaking out of their loose formation too much. She had always been easy with embraces for those who wanted them, with touching; it came naturally to her, something to break up the cold sterility of the barracks and facilities. She received many hugs, and swallowed away tears just as often. It wasn't sadness; rather a mix of fierce pride she didn't know if she had a right to, and gladness, and perhaps some regret to see all these people she'd cared for pass out of her life.

Into a better one, she chided herself. She'd been saying goodbye to cadets from the start, and most of them did not come to a good end. It should be easier, more joyful, to say goodbye to them in these circumstances. And it _was_ easier, but still bittersweet.

It took all the control she had in her to maintain her calm as the youngest cadets streamed past her in neat rows, holding hands.

The _Tranquility_ , loaded up to the bolts, finally closed her ramp and ponderously lifted off. They had left behind one LAAT/i ship and three squads of Rancor men to do a last sweep.

Shaak had accompanied Aurek and Cresh squads on a last pass through the facilities to make sure they had everybody. No brother left behind. They'd taken a crate to collect last minute things that might potentially be useful. Shaak had gone through the creche rooms and packed up all the craft materials she could find. Kamino was empty, the denizens locked in their personal quarters.

Colt met her in the hallway outside of her quarters.

"This is the last of it," he gestured to a hoverdolly with his own crate full of small assorted things, and looked to the door of her quarters. "You get everything?"

Shaak added the thick protective folder full of children's artwork. Given to her over the years by cadets. Many of whom were no longer alive now. They should have that, on Concord Dawn, she thought. Perhaps they could make some kind of memorial.

"Yes. This is it."

He gave her a puzzled glance, but the last squad passed by, and Colt and Shaak joined them.

The men brought those last crates out onto the landing platform, to the transport ship.

The explosives in the labs were set.

It was done.

 _She_ was done.

Shaak trailed to a halt, heedless of the heavy rain, as the last squads of Rancor walked ahead of her and into the transport.

They were safe. Or rather, the dangers they would face now were of their own choosing, not ones she sent them into. They could play and work and travel and thrive. They had control of their own destiny as they always should have had, and they were _free_. She would never have to send another one into war.

The relief of it was so staggeringly huge that she looked up to Kamino's ceaselessly grey skies and let the rain mingle with her tears. It was the relief of a bad future, closing.

"Shaak...?"

Colt had come back, mind tinged with concern. For a moment she could see herself through his eyes, her face tipped up, rain splattering off her montrals and dripping down her lekku. Somehow still glowing like she always did to him.

He stopped a few paces away, raising his hand in invitation.

"Come."

It was quiet, imploring, and without hesitation.

She hadn't known, until then, if she would stay behind. Had forced the thought of anything _after this_ from her mind so completely that she was almost shocked now. She could not blame them if they'd decided to leave behind the Jedi completely, to make this new life and this new world for themselves completely without interference, with nobody to throw them off their stride.

If she were honest with herself, she had expected to stay behind. She had been saying her goodbye to cadets for the past two days.

She watched Colt, too many thoughts racing through her head. What he needed. What the vode needed. How the council would react, and how much she might care about that.

"We can drop you off somewhere if that is what you want," he offered, not without reluctance. "So you can get back to Coruscant. Or you can stay with us. But I am not leaving you here."

The future opened back up a different colour. Lighter, like early dawn.

Shaak stepped forward and slipped her hand into his broad, callused grip.

Relief poured off of him as he led her into the transport, only to be met with equal relief from the Rancor squads standing guard in there. At the ready if there should be one last move from the Kaminoans.

Shaak shed her wet wool robe in a daze and sat down on the bench where they guided her. Somebody handed her a towel. Her eyes were closed, still overwhelmed with this moment, with the sudden future she was being offered. She could feel each of them shine in the force, all unique, all full of fierce pride.

They'd done it.

Brightest and closest of all, Colt, who just now settled down next to her on the bench. He shifted just so, until his pauldron settled over her shoulder, allowing them to sit pressed together. The back of his fingertips brushing along her lek in a small, secretive gesture.

She hadn't even noticed the LAAT/i taking off. It seemed like no time at all before it settled down in the _Tranquility's_ overfull bay.

"Colt to _Tranquility_ bridge," Colt activated his comms. "Rancor is aboard. We are complete. Repeat: we are complete."

Commander Gree's reply came over the speaker system to ragged cheers.

_Oya, Vode. Rearguard is aboard. Let's head home._

**Author's Note:**

> Thanks to Project0506 for letting us play in the Soft Wars sandbox, and to CmonCmon for the betaread!

**Works inspired by this one:**

  * [Words of Love](https://archiveofourown.org/works/25258870) by [TessaDoesThings](https://archiveofourown.org/users/TessaDoesThings/pseuds/TessaDoesThings)




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